“Jack and Jill went up a hill to fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down and broke his crown, and Jill came tumbling after.”
At least, that’s what Jack wants you to believe. But I’m not so easily convinced. What would you say if I told you that it wasn’t Jack who went tumbling down that hill first? No, something entirely different went down that fateful day. . .
The Sun was just beginning to set when Jack and Jill began their race up the hill. They were far from it, and were being chased by Avenian soldiers as well. If they managed to get over the hill, one of their archers would clear a path straight to freedom. The only way to get out of this alive was to run up the hill and pray the devils would give them clearance.
The soldiers quickly surrounded Jack, as he was a bit slower with his broken leg. Jill continued to run ahead as Jack slashed at the soldiers with his sword. Once enough of them had fallen, he darted past the others and continued toward the hill. Jill was at the top when she turned around to see that Jack had fallen behind. Her gaze shifted to the archer pointing straight at Jack as he loaded his arrow. When Jack followed her gaze it prompted him to run faster, putting more strain on his right leg.
Jill leaped off the hill and pushed the archer’s arm, sending the arrow completely off course. He glared at her as she climbed back up the hill. The archer readied another arrow and the soldiers on the battlefield all seemed to become focused on Jill. Jack yelled, trying to draw attention back to him as he limped up to the bottom of the hill.
Jill looked down at him, pleading with her eyes for him to remember the last thing she had told him. He refused and continued his race uphill. There would be no need to remember because she would be there to tell him again and again, until he finally got it through his thick skull that his life mattered. An arrow was fired and it found its target. Jill’s face instinctively reacted to the pain as blood poured out of her chest faster than rushing water. Too much escaped her body far too fast. Her body went limp and she collapsed, falling down the other side of the hill.
“No!” Jack’s scream was loudest in his mind. She couldn’t be dead, he had just seen her. She was alive and well at the Avenian camp he had just freed her from. She was alive to tell him that she hated being used against him. She was alive still, she had to be. Jack couldn’t go on without her. He continued to climb, pushing aside all doubts. He was almost there. He was almost beside her again.
A soldier on the other side of the hill confirmed his worst nightmare. “We’ve got the girl,” he said. “She’s dead.”
Jack froze and collapsed onto his knees at the edge of the hilltop. He couldn’t bear to see her body, the way the arrow had taken her life when it met her chest. He knew the picture would haunt him for the rest of his life. Suddenly, he was surrounded by soldiers who were chaining him up and kicking him because of what he had done to their camp. They stripped him of his crown, his title. He was treated not as the king of Carthya, but as a prisoner of the king of Avenia. The soldiers’ threats and insults were drowned out by Jack’s heavy breathing.
Jill was gone. Nothing else mattered. The world became gray, meaningless. And the war that threatened his kingdom was now a minor war compared to the one raging in his soul.
How’s that for a nursery rhyme? Yeah, it’s not the same anymore. But that’s the truth. Well, half of the truth anyway.
Author Notes: Huh, I wonder what the other half of the truth is…
I’m not saying, so go read the book series if you haven’t already. It’s by Jennifer A. Nielsen.
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United States • 16 years old